“Letting It Go”

Reviewer: Gan Soon Rui
Performance: 1 November 2014, 3pm

Almost a year since its release, Disney’s award-winning musical film about a cryokinetic queen, her sister (who has a sibling complex), and their magical talking snowman has finally hit the stage…

Not! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!)

As part of Pangdemonium’s final production to their 2014 “Misfits” season, Frozen is, without a doubt, the darkest and most ominous play out of the three productions. Unlike Fat Pig and The Rise & Fall of Little Voices earlier this year, there is little laughter to be found within Frozen.

Written by Bryony Lavery in 1998, Frozen was inspired by a series of true events involving the murder of a child, as it follows a series of events transpiring after the mysterious disappearance of a young girl, Rhonda. Spanning a few decades from the present, the play recounts the experiences of three characters, presented mostly through monologues:

• Ralph (Adrian Pang), the paedophilic serial killer.
• Nancy (Karen Tan), the grieving mother seeking closure.
• Agnetha (Janice Koh), the psychiatrist researching criminal minds.

As of the performance on 1^st November, all of the tickets to the remaining shows have already sold out. It is however, not a result of mistaken identities.

Allow me to explain.

For a play that centres itself on not a few monologues, it is the actors’ performance and interpretation that makes or breaks the production. On this front, credit should be given to Pang and Tan, whose skilful rendition of their characters resulted in two noteworthy performances.

Pang, as Ralph, manages to bring a nuanced volatility to a psychologically disturbed man. Pang’s Ralph transitions from a good natured everyday man to charismatic child-predator, and to a whimpering man-child with ease and depth.

Tan, on the other hand, presents her complicated role with much gusto. Her character, Nancy, requires her to express emotions from the extreme ends of the spectrum. Beginning from the blissful mother of two, to the grieving parent undergoing the five stages of loss and grief (i.e. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance), Tan externalises these tumultuous emotions within the short span of two hours with much relish.

Aside from the philosophical discussions of the ideas of evil and the human condition, the main takeaway from the play perhaps could be the human’s ability to find within them, the power to forgive the ones who have wronged them. To quote a famous saying from Alexander Pope, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

In short, it’s all about been able to let it go…

Huh, what an ironic coincidence.

“Forgiving and Forgetting”

Reviewer: Andre Theng
Performance: 25 October 2014, 3pm

Reading the pre-show coverage in the press in the weeks preceding Pangdemonium’s Frozen, I must admit that I have never before been filled with more trepidation prior to watching a play. All the material pointed to a chilling, frightening and murderous play that may just wreck havoc on my mind.

While fortunately the play was nowhere as frightening as I had feared, it was indeed mind-blowing, thoroughly immersive and impressive. The relatively small Esplanade Theatre Studio gave the entire show a very intimate feel and there was a one-ness with the roller-coaster of emotions that one is taken through the 105-minute play.

Pangdemonium’s Frozen cannot be more different from the popular Disney movie of the same name. Instead, it recounts the stories of a serial killer and paedophile, Ralph, played by Adrian Pang and that of a mother, Nancy, grieving the murder of her daughter. The two stories are linked by Agnetha, a psychologist studying serial killers. Ralph gets away with his crimes for many years before he is finally arrested and jailed. It is then that the mystery of the disappearance of Nancy’s daughter is solved. Although she desires to meet Ralph in prison to forgive him, Agnetha, who has met Ralph many times as part of her thesis research, discourages her from doing so.

Most impressive was Pang’s characterisation of Ralph. One wonders which audience member would be next in line to be murdered. While Pang has proved to be an excellent actor time and again, his performance as Ralph is particularly memorable.   Koh and Tan are exceedingly competent in their respective roles, both showing a mastery of emotions throughout the play.

The Bryony Lavery written script is most certainly deserving of the 4 Tony nominations it received in 2004, and also commendable was Eucien Chia’s set, which made good use of the small space to create multiple sub-spaces within the confines of the Theatre Studio.

And so, Frozen brings a fitting end to a good season for Pangdemonium, which has grown from strength to strength in the few years sinces its inception. While this wasn’t as remarkable as last year’s Rabbit Hole, it is certainly much better than Fat Pig, the opening show of the season. While I have been sceptical about yet another morbid Pangdemonium production, I am now of the opinion that this should very well be their specialty. Ticket sales can testify to the buzz successfully created by the marketing team – by the start of Frozen’s run, the entire two week run was already sold out.

I just hope no one bought tickets expecting the Disney show.

Frozen is about forgiving and forgetting. But there was nothing to forgive – just everything to remember.